Doolittle: Try Anthony Davis at the 3

[Saints Fan in A]

The sample sizes are tiny, but New Orleans' early success opens up a lot of intriguing possibilities for when Davis does return. The 1½ games in which Davis has played have been impressive, to say the least. His outrageous 35.1 PER is the best in the NBA among players who have logged at least 40 minutes, per Basketball-Reference.com.

Recently, Henry Abbott floated the idea of playing Davis at 3 in order to enhance his skills development, and Brett Koremenos at HoopSpeak wrote an involved treatment of the subject. The idea has plenty of merit. Abbott mentioned one benefit being that doing so would serve as a form of unintentional tanking for the rebuilding Hornets. However, as well as New Orleans has played so far, it's not clear that a healthy version of its 2012-13 roster is going to lose big, regardless of how Davis is deployed.

Can Davis play the 3? In a word, yes. And he should play it now.

Davis' versatility

When you go to the video of Davis' regular-season performance, you immediately see that he has been used primarily on the weak side on offense, working the baseline for lobs and flaring out when the lane is overloaded. He shows a nice stroke out to 20 feet, not with a quick release but with the kind of length that will ensure good looks. He's smooth and patient when floating out to the perimeter, but really revs it up when attacking the offensive glass or diving on pick-and-rolls.

His play has been something of a revelation, even to Williams.

"I'm still getting used to who he is as a player," Williams said. "He shoots the ball better than I thought. He has really good footwork. He can handle the ball, he can pass. He can make passes out of a situation that most big men can't make a pass out of."

These are the observations you hear about Davis time and again. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said, "He's a basketball player. He does everything. He can shoot, he can put it on the floor, he can pass, play great defense, great timing on shot blocks, great quickness. He's going to be a great pro."

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http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story...is-3-right-now

[MichaelMcNamara]

Again, what are we talking about? 3 on offense, 3 on defense, or both? And "the 3" is not universal with regard to how it is used in each system, so what are we even talking about here?

If we are talking about playing Davis, Anderson, and Lopez together, or sub in Smith for Anderson or Lopez, etc. - then we are already doing that. Say he is playing the three, the four, the 10, whatever. He has the versatility to allow you to put your best players on the floor regardless of position. Monty knows that and is doing that. Will we see more of it? Not if Aminu keeps playing like this. No need, as he is one of our 5 best guys.

Now if Davis or Aminu could play the 2, then we would have something

[Pelicans78]

Davis isn't that versatile enough to play the 3 offensively. I mean Anderson's 3 -point shooting makes it easier to play him with Davis and Lopez, but having Davis guard SFs takes away from his defense and rebounding. Offensively, he's better at the 4 since his perimeter shooting and driving to the basket is much more effective against 4's.

[Nola Hornet]

The logic is flawed. He's doing great with that very same skillset at the 4.

[Bigeauz]

Again, what are we talking about? 3 on offense, 3 on defense, or both? And "the 3" is not universal with regard to how it is used in each system, so what are we even talking about here?

If we are talking about playing Davis, Anderson, and Lopez together, or sub in Smith for Anderson or Lopez, etc. - then we are already doing that. Say he is playing the three, the four, the 10, whatever. He has the versatility to allow you to put your best players on the floor regardless of position. Monty knows that and is doing that. Will we see more of it? Not if Aminu keeps playing like this. No need, as he is one of our 5 best guys.

Now if Davis or Aminu could play the 2, then we would have something

Now that you mention that, it would be interesting to see a Gordon-Aminu-Davis-Anderson-RoLo lineup. I mean, if Gordon actually plays another game in a Hornets uniform. Monty's 2 and 3 are just wings.

[DirtySouf]

I'd rather Davis protect the basket...